Unit Operation In Food

Engineering –II (FD-308)

Drying
 Drying

• Drying is a unit operation in which moisture is

removed from a food product by the application of
heat, leading to a phase change from liquid (usually
water) to vapor, which is then removed by an air or
vacuum stream.
It involves both:
Heat transfer (to supply energy for evaporation)
Mass transfer (movement of moisture from
inside the food to its surface and then to the
surrounding air)
• Product: Fresh strawberries
Method: Freeze Drying (Lyophilization)
Process: Strawberries are first frozen at low temperatures.
Under vacuum, ice is sublimated (directly
turned from solid to vapor).
Water is removed without going through the liquid
phase, preserving texture and nutrients.

Result:
Lightweight, crispy texture
Retains color and flavor
Long shelf life without refrigeration
 Drying
• The separation operation of thermal drying
converts a solid, semisolid, or liquid feedstock
into a solid product by evaporation of the liquid
into the vapor phase via application of heat.
• Thermally induced phase change and
production of a solid phase as end product are
essential features of thermal drying
• Drying occurs by sublimation of the solid phase
directly into vapor phase in freeze drying.
This definition excludes
• Conversion Of A Liquid Phase Into A
Concentrated Liquid Phase (Evaporation).
• Mechanical Dewatering By
Filtration ,Centrifugation, Sedimentation.
• Supercritical Extraction Of Water, And
• Drying Of Liquids Or Gases Using Molecular
Sieves (Adsorption).
 Drying in food processing
Drying is one of the most ancient methods of food preservation
known to mankind. Preservation of meat, fish and food plants by
drying in the sun or in the naturally dry air of the deserts and
mountains has been practiced since prehistoric times and is still
a vital operation in the life of many rural communities
The main technological objectives of food dehydration are:
• Preservation as a result of depression of water activity: Drying
inhibits microbial growth and enzymatic activity, thereby extending
the shelf life of food products.
• Reduction in weight and volume: Transformation of a food to a
form more convenient to store, package, transport and use, e.g.
transformation of liquids such as milk or coffee extract, to a dry
powder that can be reconstituted to the original form by addition
of water (instant products)
• Concentration of Nutrients: Drying concentrates nutrients,
enhancing the nutritional value of food products.
• Texture and Flavor Preservation: Imparting to a food product a
particular desirable feature such as a different flavor, crispiness,
chewiness etc., i.e. creating a new food (e.g. transformation of
grapes to raisins).
 Applications of Dehydration
The following are examples of the many foods which are preserved in
dehydrated form.
• Dehydrated Vegetable Products
• Dehydrated Fruit Products
• Dehydrated Dairy Products
• Instant Coffee and Tea
• Dehydrated Meat Products
• Dehydrated Fish Products
 Stability of Dehydrated Foods
• When considering the stability of dehydrated foods it is not the total moisture
content that is critical but rather the amount of moisture that is available to
support microbial growth, enzymic, and chemical activity.
• In studying the availability of water in food, a fundamental property known as
water activity, aw, is measured. The ratio of the vapor pressure in a food to the
vapor pressure of pure water. This property is defined by the expression:

where p is the water vapor pressure exerted by a solution or wet solid and p
v w

is the vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature.

Different Location of Liquid Feed for dryers may
FORMS of .
to be Vaporized in the form of
Solids • on the surface of the
• Flakes solid (e.g. Drying salts,
crystals) • Liquid in which the
• Granules solid is suspended as
particles.
• Crystals • inside the solid (e.g.
• Solution.
Solvent removal from
• Powders sheet of polymer)
• Slabs
• Continuous • partly outside and
sheets partly inside
 Physical mechanism of drying
• Drying is a diffusional process in which the transfer of moisture to
the surrounding medium takes place by the evaporation of
surface moisture, as soon as some of the surface moisture
vaporizes, more moisture is transported from interior of the solid
to its surface. This transport of moisture within a solid takes place
by a variety of mechanisms depending upon the nature and type
of the solid.
• The mechanism of moisture transport in different solids may be
broadly classified into:
 Diffusion  Capillary movement
 Liquid diffusion  Pressure induced transport
 Vapor diffusion
1) Transport by capillary forces: In granular and porous solids, with an open
pore structure, moisture transport occurs due to capillary forces.

2) Pressure induced transport: Some solids undergo significant shrinkage on

drying. If the drying rate is high, the outer layer dries up fast, contracts
and thereby generates a compressive force to squeeze out moisture from
the interior.

3) Liquid diffusion: For colloidal, gelatinous and some other materials that
have an appreciable affinity for water, moisture transport occurs by
molecular diffusion of liquid. As drying proceeds, the water concentration
near the surface decreases. This creates the driving force for water
diffusion from within the moist medium towards its exposed surface.

4) Vapor diffusion: At a low moisture content in a solid, which is inherently

porous or in which pores are generated in course of drying , vaporization
may even occur appreciably below the surface. The vapors thus produced
 Case Hardening
In certain solids like soap bar:
 Important terms
1) Moisture content: The moisture content of a wet solid is expressed as kg of
moisture associated with 1 kg of the moisture free or ‘bone-dry’ solid.

2) Bone dry: A solid totally free from moisture/ a condition where zero moisture
is left in the material

3) Equilibrium moisture content(X*):

• Equilibrium Moisture Content is the moisture level a material reaches when
it's in balance with the surrounding air — meaning the rate of moisture
absorption equals the rate of [Link] depends on:TemperatureRelative
humidity of the surrounding airNature of the material (e.g., hygroscopicity,
porosity)
• When Vapor pressure of moisture in the solid is equal to the partial pressure
of the vapor in the gas (surrounding air), at this point all the moisture
content present in the solid is called EMC.
• In food drying: Determines how much water must be removed to stabilize
the product.
4) Free moisture:
• This is the moisture present in a substance in excess of the equilibrium moisture
content, (X - X*). Only free moisture can be removed during drying under a given
set of operating conditions.
• Free moisture is the liquid in excess of the equilibrium moisture content at a given
temperature and humidity. Thus under condition of saturation humidity, the free
moisture is the same as the unbound moisture, but in certain circumstances the
free moisture may consist of both unbound and bound moisture.

5) Bound moisture:
The moisture contained by a substance, which exerts an equilibrium vapor pressure
less than the vapor pressure of pure water at that temperature is called bound
moisture.
Liquid may become bound to the solid—
- by retention in small capillaries
- by solution in cells or fiber walls
- by homogeneous solution throughout the solid
- by chemical or physical adsorption on solid surfaces.
6) Unbound moisture:
• The moisture contained by a substance that exerts an
equilibrium vapor pressure equal to that of pure water at
that temperature is known as unbound moisture.
 Drying Equilibria
Relation between the moisture content of a solid and the humidity
of the ambient air at equilibrium.
1. Non-hygroscopic
2. PVC
3. Wood
4. Kraft paper
5. Jute
6. Wheat (Hygroscopic)
7. Potato (Hygroscopic)

Hygroscopic: A substance that has the ability to adsorb and absorb moisture or water from the
surrounding environment is known as hygroscopic and its property is called hygroscopy. Examples -
Silica gel, honey, methanol, concentrated sulphuric acid, glycerine, ethanol, etc.
PV=PA
Drying rate curve
 𝑋𝑖: Initial moisture content
• Key Points on the Curve:

𝑋𝑐​: Critical moisture content — end of constant rate period

•

𝑋𝑐′: Transition point within the falling rate period

•

𝑋∗ : Equilibrium moisture content — drying effectively stops

•
•
• Points D → E → F → G: Show how moisture content decreases over time

• D to E (Constant Rate Period):

Surface remains wet (free water evaporates easily)
Drying rate is constant
Controlled by external conditions (temperature, air flow, RH)
• E to F (First Falling Rate Period)
Surface starts to dry out
Internal moisture begins to move to the surface
Drying becomes slower
Controlled by internal diffusion

• F to G (Second Falling Rate / Final Period)

Very little moisture left — mostly bound water
Drying slows significantly
Approaches equilibrium moisture content X∗X^*X ∗
Often energy-inefficient to dry further
 Moisture content: 𝑋𝑖 to 𝑋𝑐​
P → Q → R (Constant Rate Period)

Drying rate: Constant at 𝑁𝑐

Mechanism: Surface water evaporates freely, like a wet surface
Control External conditions (air temp, velocity, RH)

Moisture content: 𝑋𝑐​ to 𝑋∗

R → S → T (Falling Rate Period)

Drying rate: Drops continuously

Mechanism: Internal water migrates to the surface by
Capillary action , Liquid/vapor diffusion , Structural collapse (in food or porous solids)
Control: Internal diffusion becomes dominant

Moisture content: 𝑋∗ Drying rate: 𝑁=0

T (Equilibrium Point)

No further drying occurs at given conditions

Critical moisture:
• This is the moisture content of a substance at
which drying rate changes from constant rate
to falling rate.
 Drying rate curve
Drying occurs in three different phases
INITIAL PERIOD
- Sensible heat is transferred to the feed that contained moisture
- Heating up the feed from the inlet condition to the process condition
- The rate of evaporation increases dramatically during this period with mostly free
moisture being removed.
Pre-processing can reduce or eliminate this phase.
e.g. preheated by a source of waste energy.
CONSTANT RATE PERIOD
- Free moisture persists on the surface.
- Rate of evaporation alter very little as the moisture content reduces.
- Drying rates are high.
- There is a gradual and relatively small increase in the product temperature.
- Time scale of the constant rate period may determine and affect the rate of drying
in the next phase.
FALLING RATE PERIOD
- Migration of moisture content from the particles to the outer surface becomes
• from A to B, the wet solid is
being preheated to an exposed-
surface temperature equal to the
wet-bulb temperature of the gas.
Some moisture is evaporated in
this preheat period, at an
increasing rate, as the surface
temperature increases.
• The drying rate now becomes
constant during the period from
B to C, which prevails as long as
free moisture still covers the
exposed surface.
• At the beginning of the
period from C to D, the
moisture just hardly covers
the exposed surface.
From then until point D is
reached the surface tends
to a dry state because the
rate of liquid travel by
diffusion or capillary action
to the exposed surface is
not sufficiently fast
 Rate of drying

• Ws=mass of bone dry solid

• X=moisture content
• a=drying area
• t=time
• N= rate of drying
 Calculation of the drying time

tc = Constant rate drying time

tf = Falling rate drying time

Xi = Initial moisture content

Xf = Final moisture content

X* = Equilibrium moisture content
Xc = Critical moisture content
Problem # 2
A food solid was dried from 40 to 10% moisture content in 2 h in a
batch drier with constant air conditions. The drying rate remained
constant down to a moisture content of 15%. If the equilibrium
moisture content is 2%, calculate the total time required to dry
from 40 to 4% moisture content. All moisture contents are given
on a dry basis.
Problem # 3
A 100 kg batch of a food powder contains 28% moisture on a
wet basis. It is dried down to 16% moisture at a constant rate
of 0.006 kg /m2.s. The critical moisture content is 15%.
Calculate the batch drying time if the drying surface is 0.03 m2
per kg of dry weight.
 Classification of dryers
Industrial dryers can be classified according to numerous criteria. The
following list is one such classification scheme:
 Mode of operation (batch, continuous, or semi continuous).
 Heat input mechanism (convection, conduction, radiation,
electromagnetic fields, combination of heat transfer modes) or
adiabatic/non-adiabatic.
 State of material in dryer (stationary, moving, agitated,
dispersed).
 Operating pressure (vacuum, atmospheric).
 Drying medium (air, superheated steam, flue gases).
 Drying temperature (below boiling point, above boiling point,
below freezing point).
 Relative motion between drying medium and drying solids (co-
current, countercurrent, mixed flow).
 Number of stages (single, multistage).
 Heat Transfer in Dryers

Heat Transfer in Dryers

By definition it is a thermal process

It is often complicated by diffusion in the solid or through a
gas.
Solids can be dried by exposure to highly superheated steam,
there are no diffusion
limitation.
Surface temp. depends on the rates of mass transfer and heat
transfer and this
concept is used in dryer calculation
Cross-Circulation Drying:
Gas is blown across the surface of a bed or slab of solids.
Through Circulation Drying:
Gas is blown through a bed of coarse granular solids that
are supported on a screen
• Direct heat batch dryer
Tray dryer
• These types of dryers are useful when the production rate is small.
They are used to dry wide range of materials.
• Drying gas (usually air) is heated in contact with steam coils.
• Cross-circulation drying.
• The temperature, humidity & velocity of air may be regulated as
required by adjusting the gas flow rate, the circulation rate & the
steam rate.
• Area of plates: 0.5 to 1 m2 ; Depth of wet solid: 1 to 5 cm.
• Advantages: Fragile materials can be dried, less space required,
ease of cleaning and good control of drying conditions.
• Disadvantages: Stagnant air pockets may result in non-uniform
drying (through-circulation mode using perforated trays can help
minimize it), have high labor requirement for loading and
unloading the materials, and are expensive to operate.
 Rotary dryer
• Also called “workhorse of chemical dryers”
• Most widely used continuous dryers in process
industry
• Suitable for relatively free flowing, non-sticky &
granular materials e.g. table salt etc
• Consists of slightly inclined slowly rotating
cylindrical shell, fed with moist solid at upper
end.
• Direct heat rotary dryer or Indirect heat rotary
dryer
• Rotary dryers operate by bringing materials into direct or indirect
contact with hot gas, rotary dryers could work under a high
temperature up to approximately 1,200 °F (635°C). Moisture is
evaporated and taken away along with exhaust gas.
Flight (internal component of rotary dryer)
Suitable for materials that require extremely low level of moisture,
where the last traces of moisture are difficult to remove, or where an
elevated product temperature is desired.

The flights may be straight or may have a 45ᵒ or 90ᵒ lip termed as
Straight flights or 45ᵒ- Flights or 90ᵒ-Flights.
For sticky materials: Straight flights are used along 1/3rd of shell
length, 45ᵒ- Flights for next 1/3rd and 90ᵒ-Flights for the [Link]
of a part of dry product is done to reduce stickiness.
Essential features of rotary dryer:

• Flow types: Co-current or counter-current

• Gas heating: Hot gas should not contaminate the product
• Solid feeding: Solid feeder or screw feeder. “Gas seal” is used
to avoid drying gas escape.
• Dust collection: Cyclone or bag filters are used to collect dust
from exiting gas.
• Heat efficiency: The fraction or %age of the thermal energy of
the hot gas that is utilized for drying is called the heat/thermal
efficiency. Vary between 20 to 80% and rest of the energy
leaves the dryer with gas or is lost to the ambient.
Co current
• Heat transfer rate is rapid at initial stage, causing a quick
and considerable drop in gas temperature.
• prevents overheating of material & operate slightly cooler
than counter-current configuration.
• longer service life and less maintenance of rotary dryer

.
Counter current
• For materials that contain high internal moisture, the distance
to the highest temperature gives enough time for water to
migrate to the surface for evaporation.
• Suitable for materials where the last traces are of moisture are
difficult to remove,
• Used where an elevated product temperature is desired
Screw Feeder
 Agitated dryer
(1) Material oxidizes, becomes explosive, or becomes dusty
during drying
(2) Moisture is valuable so recovery is done
(3) Used for Materials which tends to agglomerate or set up if
not agitated.
(4) Maximum product temperature is less than about 30°C.
 Fluidized bed dryer
The drying gas is passed through the bed of solids at a velocity
sufficient to keep the bed in a fluidized state. Mixing and heat transfer
are very rapid in this type of dryers.
The main advantage of this type of dryer are: rapid and uniform heat
transfer, short drying time, good control of the drying conditions
 Spray Dryer
The drying of liquid food products is often accomplished in a
spray dryer. Moisture removal from a liquid food occurs after
the liquid is atomized or sprayed into heated air within a drying
chamber
 Criterion for selection of dryers
 Many dryers can typically meet specs; hence several dryers can do
a given job in general.
 Choice depends on
 mode of operation,
 physical form of feed and dried product desired;
 heat sensitivity;
 quality requirements;
 production rate;
 whether non‐aqueous solvents are present in feed;
 whether material is toxic/inflammable or friable etc
 Key criterion‐ dryer must be able to handle the product‐ move it
from feed to exit.
 Energy, environment, safety and cost are important considerations
in selection
Material And Energy Balances In Continuous Dryers
q

2 1
Numerical # 1
Numerical # 2
It is interesting to note some of the significant and unique features of
industrial drying:
• Dryer operating temperatures and pressures range from below
triple point to supercritical condition.
• Product size may range from submicron to tens of centimeters in
thickness.
• Product porosity may range from near zero to 99.9%.
• Drying times for the various products may range from 0.25 s to 5
months.
• Production capacities may range from a fraction of a kilogram per
hour to 100 t/h.
• Product speed in dryer may range from zero (stationary) to 2000
m/min.
• Heat for drying may be supplied continuously or intermittently by
convection, conduction, radiation or by electromagnetic fields
(microwave, radio frequency)
 Freeze-Drying
Freeze-drying is accomplished by
reducing the product
temperature so that most of the
product moisture is in a solid
state, and by decreasing the
pressure around the product,
sublimation of ice can be
achieved.
When product quality is an
important factor for consumer
acceptance, freeze-drying
provides an alternative approach
for moisture removal.
 Post-drying treatments
• As a result of thermal damage during drying, the dried
product may contain defective particles. These are removed
by visual or automatic inspection and sorting.

• Some dehydrated products in powder form (e.g. milk powder,

infant formulae, soluble coffee) are agglomerated.

• Proper packaging and adequate storage conditions are, of

course, the most important factors in post-drying handling of
all dehydrated products